Tools

An appropriately sobering, resolutely downbeat, documentary chronicle of the life and career of William G. Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. Through co-directors Kevin Hanlon and Dan Carracino’s montage of old photos, vintage voice tapes, and talking heads, we learn about the spiritual aspect of AA’s program of treating “the obsession of drinking,” Wilson’s efforts to open AA to women and minorities in the post-WWII era, and that Wilson experimented with LSD – for him it was an alternate path to faith. This unsexy, informative doc might have worked just as effectively as a book or magazine article, rather than a film (104 min.)
ByKelly Vance